American sprint star Fred Kerley's Enhanced Games escapade is sad and his Gout Gout taunts are embarrassing
We knew for some time before American sprint star Fred Kerley signed with the Enhanced Games that the former 100-metre world champion had a few screws loose.
The fresh taunts he's fired at Australian sprint prodigy Gout Gout, and the Enhanced Games invitation he extended to him in the same baffling media opportunity, have made it patently clear he's got a full tool box in need of some maintenance.
In case you missed it, Kerley spoke to media this weekend at Resorts World in Las Vegas, the location of the inaugural Enhanced Games, and threw some barbs when asked about the 18-year-old sprint sensation from Ipswich.
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Fred Kerley in Las Vegas for the inaugural Enhanced Games. dpa/picture alliance via Getty I
Award-winning Sydney Morning Herald sports journalist Tom Decent, who's on assignment in Las Vegas, pinged some Gout-related questions Kerley's way – and "Fred the Fruit Loop" couldn't resist.
Admittedly, the man who won world championship gold in the 100m dash in 2022 had some praise for Gout.
"I have seen him. He's the next up. He's the future of the sport and with the next generation," Kerley said.
Then came the trash talk.
"It's all about what he believes in. Anybody can come and compete [at the Enhanced Games]. If you want to, [Gout], come. You'll still get destroyed," Kerley said.
"He's still a kid. There would be so much in his head.
"I don't think he can handle the pressure [on the world stage]."
Classy.
Kerley is 31. He is a two-time Olympic medallist and a three-time world championship gold medallist. He's claimed one individual world championship gold medal and been a member of two gold medal-winning relay teams. He is also one of the stars of the Netflix documentary Sprint, which dropped just before the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Gout is 18. He said "school's out" for the final time only a handful of months ago. Sure, he is the fastest teenager in global history over 200m, has a reported $6 million deal with Adidas, and is compared time and again to Usain Bolt, the greatest to have ever set foot on an athletics track.
But as Kerley admitted himself, Gout is still a kid.
Teen sprint sensation Gout Gout. Getty
Gout's management declined to comment when contacted by Wide World of Sports.
In January 2025, eight months before he became the first track and field athlete to sign with the Enhanced Games, footage emerged of Kerley in a physical altercation with police in Miami. The commotion had something to do with his car, which he'd parked nearby. The charge was dropped on the condition he undertook a course in anger management.
He signed with the Enhanced Games and the dribble was imminent.
"Human limits getting tested," he wrote on Instagram about the controversial new venture.
"Humanity pushing past the edge. Superhuman alive."
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Kerley will be running without performance-enhancing drugs in his system at the inaugural Enhanced Games, taking place on Monday (Australian time).
He has vowed to break Bolt's 100m world record – the 9.58 seconds the legendary Jamaican ran at the 2009 world athletics championships. Kerley's personal best is 9.76. If the big Texan does better Bolt's world record, World Athletics won't ratify it.
Juiced up or not, Kerley's union with the Enhanced Games has tarnished his image forever, as has the two-year ban the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) slapped him with in March for avoiding drug tests. In the AIU statement that announced the ban, the anti-doping police called Kerley "reckless".
Fred Kerley celebrates winning gold in the 100m dash at the 2022 world athletics championships. Getty Images for World Athletics
The Enhanced Games, which encourages its athletes to dope and conducts no drug testing, has no regard for clean sport.
The CEO of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, Travis Tygart, branded the start-up a "dangerous clown show", while in a joint statement, the World Anti Doping Agency and the International Olympic Committee labelled it "utterly irresponsible and immoral".
Among the staunchest critics of the polarising venture, founded by Australian businessman Aron D'Souza, is the fastest swimmer in world history, Australian Olympic and world champion Cameron McEvoy.
In February 2023, when Kerley hadn't yet fallen from grace, Australian Athletics lured him to Melbourne for the Maurie Plant Meet. Some rising stars of Australian sprinting, including Torrie Lewis and Aidan Murphy, were fortunate enough to tag along with him at training during his two-week stay, observing first-hand a world champion and soaking up invaluable advice. That two-week visit has been credited, to a small degree, in the remarkable resurgence Australian sprinting has enjoyed in recent years.
It's a shame Kerley is a role model no more.
His Enhanced Games escapade is sad and the shade he threw at Gout was embarrassing.
